The Bells Ring
by KhaosKat
Summary: Gah! I can't get the summary right! Every time I read it, it's completely wrong! I've tried to redo it countless times. . Light is not Kira...for now. If you read and keep reading, you'll know what I mean. A romance with some humor injected. Light/L yao
1. The Bells

**a/n:** I know I published this before, but I never got the chance to update it so I took it off. BUTBUTBUT it's back! Second chance at keeping a story going. I would make a point of saying that the plot has been revised (kind of...I haven't quite finished the actual revising of it...), but there would be no point as I only ever got one chapter up. P

Still my first attempt at any kind of fanfic, so feel free to say I'm shit at writing if you want.

**Disclaimer **_(woops nearly forgot...)_**:** I don't own it, I don't make money from it, and even if I tried to sell no one would buy my crappy rendition.

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The Bells Ring

L tilted his head towards the thickly blanketed sky. Each raindrop acted as a tiny bullet, shooting at his stinging, wide black eyes. His usually wild, dark hair, hung limply on his forehead. Several soaking strands shifted across his eyes, dripping onto his pale cheeks, and one drop drawing a smooth line down to his chin, then falling silently onto his already soaking white shirt. The long sleeves which usually protected him from the cold, now clung to his scrawny arms, making him shiver uncontrollably. He was standing motionless on the rooftop of his investigation building, bare feet nudging at the rippled puddle in front of him. It was as dark as night allowed it to be, which was light enough to see, but not light enough to penetrate the cold, misty aura L constantly shrouded himself in. He put it there to protect his thoughts and precious memories from intruders, and ironically, Light. However, there was a flaw in this shield. If enough Light shone on it, Light could seep through his carefully wrought defenses.

The bells were deafening today. They shut out all the remedial noises crowding his overloaded senses. Every painful moment that had occurred recently, which had built into a tumbling avalanche of hurtful feelings and general chaos in L's orderly mind, were now denied attention. The bells came first. The bells gave L the spark to light the fire in his melancholy eyes, filling his body with warmth that came with the memories of his favorite place. A place he may never see again. Whammy's orphanage was far from where he was now, and his life was surely reaching it's peak. The fire went out with a thud as heaviness slammed into his heart. The last ring sounded, and the pattering o raindrops started to crescendo in his ears.

Loud angry foot falls could be heard behind L, accelerating with each angry splash on the ground, and soon enough, two large hands grasped L's shoulders. L's descending mind jumped back to attention as he was spun violently around. He now faced his companion with a blank expression on his stoic face. Light appeared to be livid, yet equally concerned.

"What the _hell_ are you doing up here in the pouring rain?" Light tugged his arm and tried to guide L to the door leading inside. He made it two steps before L forcefully reclaimed his arm and snapped his gaze upwards, averting his attention back to the dark clouds.

"I could ask you the same Light-kun."

Light gazed at the detective with a sad expression on his face. L's apparent misery was affecting him, it seemed.

"L, please come inside. You could get ill." Light stated the obvious, as there was really nothing else he could do. L's eyes swiveled slowly to stare at Light. There was no emotion in his eyes, but the burning sensation in his throat surely made up for that?

"That hardly matters now, Light-kun."

"W-what do you mean it hardly matters? Of course it matters you imbecile, if you're ill what happens to the case?" Light was simply astounded by L's newfound inability to care.

"The case? I assumed I wouldn't be around to finish it. I have already asked Watari to prepare my replacement." Light looked to the ground, his now sopping hair covering his eyes.

"L, you will not die. If you die, I will personally avenge you." His voice shook at the end of his statement. L simply stared at him with his piercing black eyes.

"Kira would avenge those he killed? Please, don't deny it. Whether you are Kira or not doesn't matter to me right now. Kira will kill me whether it is you or someone else." L lowered himself to the ground and sat in the center of the same puddle he was just dipping his toes in, and stared into the distance.

"I don't want you to die." Light's voice was low and wavered on each syllable. When L didn't reply, Light slowly fell to his knees a few feet away from L, his shoulders shaking. He violently shook his head, water flying off his hair, while sobbing incoherently, "I don't want you to die!"

L couldn't stand to see Light so pitiable. He stood, letting the rainwater flow off his feet, and walked slowly towards Light. The rain pounded against his back as he bent over and offered his pale hand to Light. Light was utterly pathetic right then. Shivering, shaking, and sobbing, he grasped the hand which then pulled him up into an awkwardly intimate embrace. As a man, Light was pathetic. But he didn't feel like a man right then, nor did he want to be. Light's head was nestled in L's neck, shoulders shaking in defeat as his sobs were poured mercilessly into L's unprepared heart. L's tears mingled with the raindrops streaming down his face, and somewhere in his mind, he knew that he didn't want to leave. Somehow, he had become too attached to his life, a feat he had never reached before. Light's hand clutched the back of L's shirt, an action that caused L to focus all his attention him. It had seemed almost like a cry for help.

L didn't notice when the rain stopped. He didn't notice the man stood smiling in the doorway leading out to the roof. Their mutually loud crying was the only thing either of them could comprehend. Matsuda looked on in shock at the two men on the roof. His face had frozen on the smile that had crept onto it. He had been asked by the investigation team to look for Light, who had previously gone in search of L. Matsuda tiptoed back to the stairs, then ran back to the others. He wasn't going to be the one to interrupt that no matter what _anyone _told him.

A few minutes later, they had both calmed down, but Light stayed with his arms wrapped comfortably around the other, until realization dawned on him exactly who he was hugging. He abruptly let go and looked at the door.

"Will you come inside now, or do I have to force you?" L stared at him, lost in his own thoughts. Then slowly he nodded, and made his way to the door, Light following closely behind him.

Once inside, Light sat down and began to dry himself off with the towel from the bathroom which had been laid just inside the door. L stood beside him, his blank eyes gazing at him, and then he stooped down and started rubbing Light's feet dry. However, his attempts were in vain, as his hair only dripped onto Light's feet again once they were dry. Light looked at L sadly and held his hand to L's hair, ceasing the steady drips from falling. After a short while, they both stood and proceeded to the investigation room, knowing they had been missed. Sure enough, upon entering the investigation room they were confronted by a very angry Soichirou Yagami.

"Light! Where have you been? We sent you over half an hour ago!" Light looked at him, perplexed.

"I'm sorry, Yagami-san. He came to get me like you told him to, but I distracted him. Entirely my fault of course." L waved away the question and sat down by a computer, motioning for Light to do the same. Soichirou stayed standing, looking flustered, and on the brink of retorting, but then his anger seemed to deflate and he sat down in defeat. Light simply got to work, ignoring the stares he and L were getting. He could clearly hear his father muttering angrily to himself about missing people and work, and couldn't help but find it rather amusing. There was one stare that unnerved him though, as it was so unlike the other bemused glances. Matsuda was _grinning _at him.

"Matsuda?" Matsuda jumped and averted his gaze while blushing profusely. "Why are you staring at me like that?" Matsuda's gaze slowly ricocheted back and forth between L and Light, and the grin formed once again on his childish face.

"N-no reason." Light started getting rather annoyed.

"Then could you kindly get back to work rather than focusing all you attention on distracting me from mine?" Light glared at his screen and scrolled down forcefully, only to jerk his hand back when he felt another on top of it.

"L? W-what?" Light stuttered and felt heat rising to his face. L was looking at Light while absently chewing on his thumb, the other hand now resting on the desk.

"Light, could you come with me for a minute?" Light nodded uncertainly, and stood with L who told the team they would be back shortly. Light ignored Matsuda's obscene smiling as he walked past him. The minute the door closed softly behind the two, Matsuda giggled childishly.

"What is wrong with you Matsuda?" Aizawa looked bemused. "You've been acting like this since you left the room twenty minutes ago."

Matsuda flashed a devious grin at Aizawa and started to chant in a sing song voice. "I know something you don't know!"

This only managed to infuriate Soichirou, who lashed out at Matsuda. "Would you please either tell us what you know, or get back to work? Imbeciles like you shouldn't flaunt their lack of responsibility!"

Matsuda frowned and crossed his arms across his chest. "Fine, if you don't want to know…" He sat down sulkily and started clacking loudly and deliberately on the typewriter keys. The silence dragged on and all that could be heard in the room was the angry punches being thrown at the keyboard with Matsuda's fingers. Mogi nearly shouted at him to stop, lest he break it, but only sat in silence, not wanting to be anymore involved in the conversation than he already was.

This lasted two minutes before Aizawa lost his patience. "Fine!" He sighed wearily. "Matsuda, please tell us what you know."

Matsuda grinned and swiveled around in his chair to face the two investigators who were listening, aware of Mogi, Ukita and Ide on the other side of the room. "L and Light like each other."

Aizawa's eyes hardened and he looked at Soichirou. "We already knew that…I mean, they're friends aren't they?"

Soichirou nodded, but Matsuda shook his head wildly, "No! I mean, they _like,_ like each other."

Soichirou stood abruptly, supremely shocked. "What do you mean?! Light's not, he's not g-gay!" Soichirou spluttered.

Aizawa merely shook his head disbelievingly and the other three shifted uncomfortably in their seats, acting like they hadn't heard. "Do you have any proof of this? Otherwise I'm afraid I simply can't believe you."

Matsuda frowned slightly. "Well, it's obvious isn't it? They are constantly touching each other…like just before when L put his hand on Light's, and they are definitely conscious of one another…and where do you think they went just now?" He refrained from telling them of the incident on the roof, it had seemed too personal.

Soichirou sank weakly into his chair. "I imagine they just went to…get a drink or something…they're just friends!" Aizawa nodded in agreement.

Matsuda looked discouraged as he observed the others' disbelieving faces. "Fine, I'll prove it to you…I'm willing to bet they went for more than just a drink…anyone want to bet with me?" His eyes flashed deviously again, and the other two bet their money.

"Ok!" Matsuda exclaimed excitedly, "Let's go!"

Aizawa looked confused. "Why don't we just ask them where they went when they get back?"

"Well they're hardly going to tell us the truth, are they?"

Soichirou and Aizawa exchanged glances and they followed reluctantly. Matsuda led the two down the hallway and stopped when he heard voices coming the unused room to the left. He motioned for the other two to look through the keyhole. Aizawa leant over hesitantly and peered through. Inside, Light and L could be seen standing in the middle of the room talking; L still chewing his thumb and staring at Light while Light looked embarrassed and flustered. L was speaking quietly so they couldn't hear, and was obviously talking about something which made Light uncomfortable.

"Soichirou, look at this!" Aizawa moved to let the older man squint through the little hole. He saw what Aizawa had seen, but then gasped when he witnessed L moving tentatively towards Light, and Light step back awkwardly so that he stood with his back against the wall, gazing into L's eyes. Then Light's voice could be heard clearly through the door, "L, I'm not…I'm not gay!" Soichirou stood suddenly, not wanting to see anymore. He leant with his back against the wall and closed his eyes. Aizawa was shocked and stood frozen, staring at the door. Matsuda however, leapt down towards the keyhole, to see what was happening.

L was now close to Light, their faces only inches apart. L was saying something, and Light licked his lips nervously, fear apparent in his wide brown eyes. Then suddenly, at the same time both heads dipped forwards, lips meeting in the middle.

Matsuda's smile widened, and he looked at the other two expectantly. They both sighed and handed him the money. Aizawa shook his head slowly.

"You win, Matsuda."

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**a/n:** woooo, finished! Now I have to type up chapter 2. So...come again!


	2. Distraught

**a/n: **I forgot to say it in the first chapter, so I'll say it now. Light is not hand-cuffed at the minute, in fact, he wasn't in the past, and he won't be in the future. For now, this is a different time-line, in which all that interesting L against Light stuff doesn't happen, and Light isn't Kira. Later on in the story…you'll see what happens. If you keep reading, that is.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Death Note. I don't make money off of this story.

The Bells Ring – Chapter 2

Light followed L on his trek down the hallway in silence, staring at the back of his head. L had been acting strange recently, especially that morning on the roof…

Light shuddered. He had been the one to instigate that particular incident. Things between them were becoming too personal, like the invisible line separating work colleagues and something else entirely had been crossed by the two, hand in hand.

Light was brought out of his reverie when he bumped clumsily into L, who had stopped in front of an un-used room at the end of the hallway. "In here, Light-kun."

Light went to open the door, when L lunged foreword to grab the handle, glancing at a bemused Light before a faint red tint formed on his pale features. "Sorry…natural instinct…" Light gave him a bewildered glance, before stepping nervously through the open door, immediately followed by L. Light looked around at the bare white walls, and stopped in the middle of the empty wooden floor.

"What is this room for? If you weren't going to use it…why build it?" L looked at the ceiling thoughtfully, hands in his baggy jeans.

"For situations like this one, I suppose. It's a place I can go where people won't think to look." Light stared at him, a silent question riddled into his perfect face. However, when it become apparent that L wasn't going to answer, Light voiced it, his tone brimming with irritation.

"…and why wouldn't you want someone to find us?"

L raised an eyebrow. "Do you _want _people to listen to every conversation we have?"

"No. But what exactly did you want to talk to me about that's so personal?"

L frowned at Light. "And what makes you think this is personal, Light-kun?"

Light sighed in exasperation. L always pretended to be ignorant, though they were both aware that he never was. "Why else would you want to talk to me in the privacy of an un-used room?"

L nodded in agreement. "Yes, I would come to the same conclusion if I were in your situation." He shrugged nonchalantly. "The Kira case has begun to bore me greatly since evidence has shown that-"

"_I'm_ not Kira." Light stated smugly with a smirk replacing his boyish smile. L looked on indifferently.

"Yes, that is correct. The fact that you were the main suspect made this case interesting, but now that I have no evidence pointing to the _real _Kira, it disinterests me."

Lights face had contorted into an irate frown. His fists clenched threateningly as the tension built in his body.

"Why does the fact that it was _me _make it interesting? Do you just get some kind of sick satisfaction from torturing me? Are you such a sadist that you would _still_ focus all of your attention on me, rather that working harder to help all the innocent people who sit in fear in their own homes! What is it about me that _fascinates_ you so much?"

Light's eyes were burning with fury and bewilderment, brimming with the light of fiery anger. He was breathing heavily; L stared at his chest, which rose and fell so evenly, beautifully almost. L's breath was shallow, a contrast to Lights. He waited until Light didn't look so irate and had stopped breathing so heavily before he trusted himself to say anything.

"What…what fascinates me is…" L took a deep breath to bring the life back to his thoughts. "…would you be happier if I didn't give you so much attention?"

The anger subsided slightly after his brief outburst. It was now replaced by a quizzical glint in his eye. He tilted his head slightly to the left. "Elaborate?"

"You seem to be enjoying this attention. I doubt you would be very pleased with me if it stopped." He paused to contemplate on his statement, looking at the ceiling while he muttered under his breath. "40 chance you would retaliate against my own apathy in your regards. 10 chance you would leave the task force out of sheer boredom. However, this is only a rough estimation, drawn from your previous actions linked with my own, in the time since I met you."

L's tone was completely devoid of emotion, and it made Light extremely uncomfortable that L could reel off percentages about Light when he hadn't known him that long at all. (He was used to L's rather odd fondness of percentages itself by now).

L was now staring at the disgruntled teenager again, who had turned a light shade of red and had crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "I don't know what you're…I…what are you saying exactly?" His stuttering embarrassed him further. For the first time, eloquence had failed him.

"I am saying that you are an attention-seeking child, and I like spoiling you." L stepped closer hesitantly. If he was currently anything less than detached from his emotions, he would not say what would come from his mouth next. "Are you attracted to me, Light-kun?"

Light jumped slightly at the question, causing his feet to trip on an awkwardly placed raised wooden board, and stumble backwards. His eyes widened, completely lost in the black caverns that occupied his vision. L was still edging slowly closer, although faster than Light was retreating, so that when Light's back hit the wall he felt trapped and defenseless with L an arm's reach away.

"L, I'm not…I'm not gay!" He spluttered desperately, although he could sense a peculiar feeling in his stomach. It was making his brain shut off in fractions at a time, and his eyes changed from the sharp analytical glare to a softly blurred cloud of confusion.

L paused, staring deeply into Light's eyes. He was willing the moment to last, for Light to be trapped eternally in a confused and bewildered state, just for L's benefit. "Neither am I."

Each stood motionless, L now close enough that his toe nudged Light's softly. A quick movement of L's eye made Light re-focus enough to evade L's enticing act. He brought his hand up to L's shoulder and pressed firmly, a warning of the shove that would soon follow.

"L, I don't want to have to hurt you, so-" He was cut off by a sharp intake of breath that had come from his own parted lips. Light's gaze darted to L's shoulder in astonishment. L's hand had drifted from his side to rest on top of his own shoulder, and Light's hand. A moment passed, then another, with L's fingers poised gently on Light's skin, the brush of his fingertips tracing shivers on flesh.

L stared at Light.

Light stared at L.

Then L eased the moment into memory, and put a foot forward, so that his face was directly opposite Lights, and their arms grazed. Light was flooded with a darkness filled with feelings that compelled him to grasp L's other arm which hung by his side still, as opposed to the one stroking Light's hand in a circular motion. They both stood still in this position, breath floating gently across their lips and mingling. Light licked his lips nervously, and his eyes flicked down to L's mouth, and back to his eyes. The anticipation grew steadily, planted on top of a foundation of tension. Then, as though a bullet signaling 'go' had been fired, the build up snapped as noticeably as if the bullet had actually sounded in their ears.

L nudged his nose against Light's, who in turn tilted his head slightly and leaned in towards the other. Light closed his eyes and felt their lips meet softly. He ran his hands down L's back, who gently pried Light's mouth open with his tongue, hands caressing his waist. L could feel the ground swaying beneath his feet, and leaned in against Light's chest, who held him steady, helped by the wall, while their tongues constantly played with each other. L brought his hands to Light's neck, and Light responded by sliding his fingers under L's shirt, trailing them lightly up his back. L omitted a deep sound from the back of his throat into Light's mouth, breaking apart for air only to have Light pull L back in. This went on, each pushing the other to new heights, until they ended up both shirtless with chests heaving against each other.

Light began to fiddle with the button on L's jeans, when they both heard noises from behind the closed door, effectively snapping them out of their mindless states. Light stared at L, eyes widening, then glanced quickly at the door. He abruptly pushed L away so that he stumbled back, and swiping his shirt from the floor tugged it over his now tousled hair. He thrust L's shirt at him, paying no heed to the hurt in his usually expressionless eyes, before rushing out with three swift strides to the door.

Leaving L with no one to share his hurt but the wall.

L wasn't violent. L was cunning and subtle enough to strike his opponent where it would hurt the most, without the use of fists. So he stared at the blank white wall, pierced bullet holes in it with his eyes. Some people had thought it was possible that they would be shot dead if L stared at them with much conviction. His eyes did resemble the barrel of a gun after all. His hands found the pockets of his jeans.

"I believe this raises the likelihood of you being Kira, Yagami-kun." He whispered threateningly. The paint did not peel.

"Yagami-kun, you are hereby forbidden from leaving your work desk." That should do it. Light-kun never could tolerate being ordered and prohibited from his freedom to do what he liked.

The wall where Light was a moment before was being childish. It was not playing along with L's mood. L sighed and turned, his back hunched over in his normal stance. What he found was definitely surprising. When Light had left, L had tuned out all the commotion behind him, but now that he was witnessing the remains, he could recall what had happened.

On the floor by the open door was Matsuda. It was obvious he had been kneeling on his knees before he was knocked over a combination of a swinging door and Light falling over him. He was grimacing and rubbing his nose, which was a painful red. L trudged across the room and poked his head around the door frame.

He saw Soichirou running clumsily down the hallway in what he assumed was the pursuit of his son. The man turned around the corner and out of sight. He had left Matsuda and Aizawa stunned into silence at the appearance of L. Matsuda was blinking furiously, a side effect of trying to dig up an escape plan from his vacant mind. Aizawa however, was staring blankly at the wall, one eye twitching regularly. He appeared to be drawn into himself, a reaction L didn't expect of him.

Matsuda looked as though he were about to say something, when a noise sounded from down the hall. "Matsuda! Aizawa! Why are you out here?! You should be…working! Get back to work _immediately. _If I had known you were spyin- um, out here! I would have-"

Soichirou glanced nervously at L, and slowly started his retreat. This was a much better target for L's glaring. "Um…get back in here now." He finished lamely, and stumbled away with as much dignity as he could muster. _That_ was unexpected.

L raised an eyebrow and glared at the other two equally, before focusing entirely on Matsuda, as Aizawa was temporarily non-responsive, and any attempt to derail him was futile. Matsuda looked innocently up from the floor, apparently finished with his plotting. He swiftly turned his head to see what state Aizawa was in, and finding that he was still in a state of severe shock and unaware of the happenings around him, Matsuda grinned sheepishly at this new furious L that replaced the composed and queer one.

"I'm really sorry, Ryuuzaki. Aizawa told us he wanted to show us something, without saying what it was. I thought we shouldn't miss anymore work considering how irresponsible I've been recently, but…he was very insistent, and actually quite forceful." Matsuda stood awkwardly as L glared at him menacingly. Matsuda began to slowly back down the hallway with arms raised in a feeble surrender. He pointed at Aizawa with both hands close to his chest, and said suggestively, "He should probably be punished for that…" Then he promptly turned to run back to the investigation room.

Aizawa blinked when the sound of feet stomping on the ground intruded on the sound of chirping seagulls flying low over a gentle sea omitting soothing noises of waves rolling lazily up the sand. It was a memory of a relaxing summer beach he went to on holiday; his 'happy place'.

When he came fully back to reality, he yelled out in alarm; L stood hunched over with his hands in his pockets, trying his best to kill the man with his eyes, a few feet away.

"W-what just happened?"

* * *

Two hours later, Light could be found sitting at the public library, reading the first book his hand had come into contact with upon entering. His eyes zoomed back and forth constantly, and he turned the pages periodically, and no one in the vicinity suspected anything out of the ordinary. The book in his hands had seemed interesting enough, but he had read two lines before his thoughts broke the almost non-existent toleration he had with the mundane and tedious act of reading.

When he had run haphazardly out of the building, the state he had been in was appalling. He had run all the way to the center of town until he collapsed of exhaustion on his hands and knees, shaking with the overwhelming feeling of distraught. However, after less than thirty seconds he somehow managed to overcome his emotions and kept a blank face so as not to raise suspicion and unwanted attention from strangers. He had wanted to run home and lock himself in his room, and refuse to go back.

Instead, he walked casually into the library, picked up a book, and sat down. He hadn't moved since.

Light had been musing, and wallowing in his own self disgust. He was a supposed genius, but he couldn't comprehend the complexity of the issue. Light was a person who thought in solid facts; nothing questionable was ever the answer.This is why the fact that he and L had kissed was so utterly wrong on so many levels.

Fact: Light was NOT a homosexual.  
Fact: L was an unattractive, unhygienic, irritatingly arrogant _male_.  
Fact: L kissed Light, and Light enjoyed it.

None of this added up, which scared him. _Everything _was supposed to add up, and Light was supposed to be able to solve _anything. _Which means that the three facts either had nothing to do with each other, or one of them was wrong. The three things put together could not be a fact as a whole, could not be rounded up or added together. Together, they were questionable, so they could not be the answer.

They had to be the question - if only he knew what the answer was.

Light rubbed his aching forehead, and stared at the page with wide unblinking eyes.

He knew something was wrong, that his brain was forming miscalculations and anomalys. He knew this because L kept appearing in his imagination, such a drastic anomaly he didn't know what to do with it. Even when he ran away he couldn't escape.

Light lifted his arm wearily to see what time it was. _3:21. _It had been exactly...two hours and thirteen minutes since he had shown up at the library. He reluctantly snapped his book shut and headed towards the exit, knowing the task force wouldn't be too thrilled about his sudden disappearance.

When he thought about the task force, he immediately flew into a silent rage, carefully concealed behind his flawless mask. _'Matsuda.'_ He hadn't forgotten how he had fallen over the eavesdropping imbecile. He remembered how Matsuda had been knelt down in front of the door, but then he also recalled two other people being there with him. He paused in the middle of the sidewalk. His _dad_ was there.

_Listening._

He shuddered violently and closed his eyes, instantly dropped into the depths of his disgust. That really made him want to run, but he remembered where he was and quickly resumed his walk at a faster pace.

He desperately wanted to find Matsuda and rip him to pieces, but something in his gut stopped him. A sickening whirl of fear and dread was swirling around his stomach, threatening to throw the contents onto the ground in front of him.

He took several deep breaths, willing the sensation to dissipate, and proceeded to his work.

* * *

Matsuda and Soichirou had made it back from L's hellish glare. They both ran into the room, seconds apart, leaning against the desks panting. Mogi sent them a disparaging look, but didn't bother asking them what had happened, while Ukita and Ide just ignored them, continuing with their work.

"Matsuda...I'm never...listening...to you...again." Soichirou panted weakly. Matsuda flopped into a chair and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at the door anxiously.

"Damn...I hope Aizawa's alright..."

Soichirou's eyes widened. "You mean you left him there?!"

Matsuda's face contorted with guilt and he was about to explain himself when Aizawa opened the door slowly, a look of sheer confusion on his face. Matsuda looked sheepish and worried. He rushed forward to console the man and help with whatever horror he had faced. "A-are you alright? I mean...did Ryuuzaki hurt you?"

Aizawa turned his head slowly. "Hm? Possibly. Whatever just happened out there was so horrifying I immediately repressed it. Why was Ryuuzaki glaring at me?"

Matsuda exchanged a concerned look with Soichirou and the rest of the task force looked on in bewilderment, thankful that they weren't invited to whatever scene the three had witnessed. Soichirou sucked in a deep breath and sat down in front of a computer. "Okay...um, back to work. _Now_ Matsuda." He waited for a moment before continuing. "...and you are forbidden from speaking of anything except the case unless asked by one of us first."

Matsuda looked at the ground gloomily, before clicking a few buttons with his mouse.

Then suddenly, Mogi spoke - an even almost unheard of in the office. "Matsuda...what _happened?_"

Matsuda's grin reappeared and Soichirou groaned loudly. "Well, I won't go into detail, but I have an excellent gay-" He looked apprehensively at Soichirou, unsure of how he would react to the statement about his son. "I mean, _attraction_ radar.

Mogi blinked and a blatant curiosity formed on his face. Matsuda's smile broadened.

"Mogi, how would you like to make a bet?"

* * *

**a/n:** Okay, finished. I really hope whoever is reading is liking this story. I am definitely open to constructive criticism on anything that is written badly, spelling and grammar errors, and stuff you don't like in general. That was kind of the point of me putting stuff on the Internet, so that I can get feedback, cause I'm SO not showing this to people I know.


	3. A Detective's Thoughts

**a/n:** hn…I just want to say right now, that all the events that take place in the anime are completely and utterly in the wrong order in this story. Eventually I might check up on that and change it so it fits, but for now we'll go with the excuse approach. …This is a different storyline, yeah? So different things happen. Problem solved.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note. It belongs to whatshisname. That's right, I have no idea what the guys name is. Baaaad fangirl.

* * *

**The Bells Ring - Chapter 3**

L woke from his dream in a drowsy stupor. He blinked slowly and looked around, but found that he couldn't see.

He was still in his chair, both legs bent beneath him. He tried to stand and winced. However comfortable it was, one should never stay in that position - without at least shifting weight across feet occasionally - for more than an hour.

The computer screen flickered into life when he jostled the mouse, casting an ugly pale glare across L's face. Glancing at the bottom right corner he saw that it was 4a.m. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, and he regretted it.

He picked up a piece of paper with two fingers and attempted to make out the words scrawled across it - the only light coming from the humming machine made this very difficult, and L's was not the best penmanship by a long shot.

'Watari - install cameras in'

He reluctantly recalled the battle that tore through his head before his inevitable night of sleep two hours previously.

He knew that the lack of evidence was clear. He knew there was no way that Light was a murderer. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something; that there was more to Light than the innocent school boy.

L had raised his eyebrows at himself when he thought this. Light was most definitely not innocent; and even though he knew it to be true, he couldn't imagine Light attending an ordinary school, doing demeaning tasks that would supposedly teach what he knew already.

Eventually, L had come to a conclusion, if one could call it that. Light was innocent; until proven guilty. He would watch from the window into Light's world that only hidden cameras would allow, and prove to himself of Light's devotion to do good, his conscientiousness, and his ever present yet unwanted youth.

L had scribbled half a note to Watari, but only managed to evade sleep this long, when he abruptly dropped the pen and his head, and shut his eyes.

Two days without sleep had certainly been too much if it meant that he could abandon his work without any effort to stay awake. He would have to be more careful.

He might have woken up earlier, as was his custom, if it hadn't been for the irritating existence of dreams. He hated them for what they did. In dreams, he allowed himself to be drawn into a false sense of security and reality, being lulled by what would cease to exist when he woke.

This one, however, was different. He could not decipher whether it had been a dream or a nightmare. It had definitely shaken him – though it wasn't obvious to an outsider's eyes, but it had also filled him with an overwhelming contentment.

The bells were ringing. This was how it had started – with the incessant tones that rode jovially through his mind. L had no idea how long this stage of his dream had lasted, but it seemed like a long time when he looked back on it. But then the imagery had begun.

The church.

The school.

Orphans playing hide and seek on the tarmac.

Roger looming over him.

All while the bells rang; the deep vibrations sending tremors across his skin.

Now, L raised a spindly finger to his face and felt the cold perspiration that clung lightly to it. He ran two fingertips along his brow – sweat. He then moved down to his nose, only to be met by more sweat. He spread his hand over his eyes. Then he rubbed the skin beneath them with more force than before. _That _wasn't sweat. At some point in his dream, his eyes had welled up with water, which spilled onto his face.

'Odd,' He thought.

It had been a week since he had kissed Light, and everything was now continuing as normal. Light and L had been almost refusing to acknowledge that it had ever taken place, L preferring to keep the normalcy between them rather than their fragile friendship being plastered with awkwardness. This had resulted in neither saying a word; to each other and to the task force. The work room was generally quite silent now, with no unnecessary chatter being exchanged. The task force was dancing on tip toes around the two boys, obviously trying to hide their misplaced embarrassment, and failing.

L was grateful for the silence; it was doing wonders for the case, and he had never liked noise in the first place. Overall, L's blunt confession was a success.

The irritating truth behind the success was that there shouldn't be any need for a success in the first place. When L worked alone, it was already silent. No people, no noise, no need to succeed in silencing anyone.

L despised having to show himself to the world. It was dangerous for anyone to know him by face anyway. But these people were untrusting, and scared for their lives. Many believed L to be Kira himself, and had not refrained from saying so. Watari had been his form of communication for a while, carrying the laptop in to the police force, but they learned to distrust him as well since he would not show his face either. So L had been forced to meet with some of them, who would tell the rest that L was trustworthy and not a criminal, therefore granting L more workers that he would not have if they decided to go against him due to lack of faith.

This case should not have been the biggest that L had encountered; the killings were random and the chosen few that died were unimportant.

There had been fifty deaths so far. Fifty deaths spaced out over a period of two months. L had become involved after the twelfth, when the police force had stated they were completely clueless to each one, and L felt he needed to solve them just to prove that the world hadn't become incapable fools. Twenty five had been the murderers. The rest were small-time criminals who had separate trials for separate ill-deeds. Uninteresting, easily solved.

If it were normal that is. But a genius couldn't figure out how the murders were linked. They happened in a variety of ways – stabbed. Shot. Hung. Run over by a car. They were creative bastards.

Creative bastards with a deadly sense of humor. This case was not normal. Each and every one of the murderers had died straight after they had completed their task, and each one had been suicide. A final joke. They died with smiles etched onto their stricken faces.

To L, this was a battle of wits. Or would have been, if his opponent were intelligent. Every case there is has a pattern. Every action, every sentence, every thought has a formula written for it. This case also had one. So far the only pattern had been the blatant thought process behind this series of murders – one thought process for one person. Because their was no coincidence behind twenty five suicides. The easiest way to find it is to look at the similarities of the victims. Criminals V. Murderers. The innocent had been spared.

The one responsible – Kira as he had been named by the masses – was stupid. He was in Tokyo. He was young. He was childish. Three facts L had known from before the investigation had begun. Kira had seemingly no interest or no ability to hide crucial parts of his identity. The only missing piece to the puzzle before revealing his face was the secret of the murders. Kira was hiding it from L, like it was a game. He continued to kill only those reported in the media, using ways unknown to the detective, and stayed out of the crime scenes.

An idea. If their were a way to bring Kira to the crime scene, then the case would spring from there. A plan…

As the plan formulated in his mind, he frowned at the growing sense of apprehension in his mind. It was telling him that his theory was wrong, that Kira was near – right where L could see. It screamed in vain that he was wrong, wrong, wrong. There was no flaw in his plan, from what he could see. The new feeling sprang from the void of nothingness that resided in the space of his brain where new information had neglected to fill. For some reason unknown to him, he was absolutely certain that Yagami Light was Kira, and that he just needed to prove it.

There was no evidence, only a hunch.

L hopped from the chair with renewed energy and walked in the direction of Watari's room with the ever present lilt in his stance. He needed to investigate every possible suspect, no matter how unlikely it was. Right now, the chance that Light was Kira was less than one percent. The only thing behind that was the nagging sense that Light had something to do with it. Absolutely no evidence at all.

* * *

Later that day, L could be found staring at the monitor that showed him Yagami Light in his room. L had wide eyes and a perplexed expression on his face, and his thumb was pale and soggy from excessive chewing.

There was something wrong. Something desperately, devastatingly, wrong.

When Light came home from school, L had watched as he trudged wearily over the threshold, and called a tired hello to his parents and sister, who were watching TV in the living room and had been for the past twenty minutes. After getting a hearty greeting from the females, and a grunt from Soichirou, he had made his way up the stairs and to his room.

L gazed blandly as his bedroom door shut softly behind him, and Light walked across the room before collapsing into his desk chair. He turned on his computer with the press of a button. L inwardly hoped for him to do something interesting to relieve his boredom, as Light's internet loaded. He typed in a website, and a new screen loaded. L wasn't surprised to see it was the news.

L _was_ surprised to see Light pull out a plain black notebook. His eyes widened to an impressive circumference when L saw what was written in it, and what Light was writing.

Light was acting much too suspicious. Almost enough that L could safely say (to himself at least) that Light was Kira. But L couldn't say he was Kira - for many reasons.

L had only had the tiniest ounce of suspicion when he set up the cameras in Light's room, so it shouldn't have turned out correct. Maybe L's mistake was hoping Light wasn't Kira, therefore blocking out any form of evidence, hypothetical or not, there was leading to Light.

But then there was the fact that Light was being so _open _about what he was doing. Light was a genius, on par with L, the three leading detectives in the world. He would never have been foolish enough to write down his future victims in a place that anyone could see if he was Kira. Also, L had already decided that Kira was _not _a genius, but stupid.

But no matter the excuses L put up in Light's defense, the fact was that he could not say Light was Kira, because it was so depressing. L did not want Light to be Kira. If Light was Kira, then L was attracted to the enemy, drawn in by a murderer. Seduced by who he would one day put to death.

Surely, Light was not Kira. Surely this could be explained away with a few simple words and apologies. It was quite possible that the victims names scrawled into a notebook had nothing suspicious to do with it. There were hundreds of explanations floating around L's head. All he had to do was pick one.

* * *

**a/n:** I am seriously sorry about how long you had to wait for this. I spent days at a time thinking that I should be writing the story, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it for longer than half an hour at a time. I write sooo slowly…this is a short one as well…I was going to include more in it, but I wanted to put it up as soon as possible and that seemed like a good break. So this one is an L chapter with a teeny tiny bit of the plot in it. --

I'll try my absolute hardest to get the next one out quicker! I've started the next chapter already, so it shouldn't be too hard… (please-don't-kill-me!)


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